No, the replies are not particularly discouraging. The several times I've posted here, (under different accounts in the past) however, I've been met with long waiting times for input on my posts.

Of course, that could just be down to luck/chance, so again, not discouraging, but, if that is the way it is, then I wanted to know if there are any known more active forums. Strangely, it seems some people here were mildly offended by the question, though, which strikes me as rather quaint.

It could be a bad question, perhaps, and I admit that I'm not immune to asking poor questions every now and again.

I don't think that it's necessarily a "poor" question, but there are times when questions are asked without much in the way of context or background information, and you have two types of folks looking at the question...those who have no idea how to answer it, and those who could write volumes...but don't have the time to do so.

For example, look at you the question you linked to...your stated goal is "I'd like to spend money as wisely as possible..."...okay, that's something most of us could relate to. However, the "location" in your account is SouthEast Asia, and there's very little information in the post regarding the type of work you're doing, and as a result, how often you expect to see certain types of drives. Only you would know that.

Given that, and looking at the scenarios, it occurs to me that some simple math is all it takes to answer your question. Look at the types and numbers of each drive you expect to see, and figure out the best option for you. I would think that it's relatively straightforward. I'm sure others could make recommendations, but I would also think that someone at one of the big accounting/consulting firms is going to have a different projected customer base than you, so they'd likely look at a different option.

- adiamond

Is there any advantage to having all the bridge...

Again, it depends on what you're doing, or planning to do. I have found that having each bridge available is useful, if you expect to get several drives of different types in at the same time. However, I have also had instances where I've imaged almost a dozen systems at the same time, but they all had to be imaged via live acquisition, so no bridges were used.

Again, the question isn't "poor", per se...there are just some things that would need to be added as background to help someone make a recommendation, but by the time you add that information, you've likely answered the question already.

contains an "illogical" connection between activity and number of users (there can be more active forums with a little number of users and as well forums with heaps of users that never post/reply/discuss anything).

This is overall "normal" if you are the "average new user", but after stating how your background is in eDiscovery I could not but consider you a "digital detective" and this made your question sound particularly "queer".

There is a known resource by Eric S. Raymond that though aimed at the "world of hackers" has some good points that are common to most technical oriented boards/forumswww.catb.org/esr/faqs/...tions.html

Of course it is not "the Bible", but it is IMHO worth some time reviewing it, and then re-consider how your original question may have appeared to the eyes of a number of other members .

jaclaz
_________________- In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is. -

I don't think Ive ever had a question not answered within about 12 hours at most and generally a bit quicker. If you want instant support well you are going to have to go direct to vendors and pay for the service I'm afraid.

I'm continually surprised at the extent and breadth of knowledge some people here have, and as someone else said, there is no escaping the more active members as they lurk on most forums I've managed to find.

For my money I've found this site to be by far the most accurate and active.

At present, due to my limited knowledge of computer forensics, I can't actually contribute that much back to the forum (unless something springs up in relation to my own experience). So I don't really 'contribute' very much.

But on the other side of the coin, the massive range of in-depth knowledge here is astounding, and perhaps through gaining this knowledge myself, I might be able to assist others in the future.